Muscogee Creek Nation Calling on Gov. Ivey to Retrieve Ancestor Remains
Leaders from the Muscogee Creek Nation are calling on Governor Kay Ivey to help them retrieve their ancestor remains from the University of Alabama.
The remains of over 5,800 of their ancestors are in the university’s control and many members of the tribe have been fighting to get them back.
“Many of those remains are held for curiosity purposes,” said Jonodev Chaudhuri, Ambassador of the Muscogee Creek Nation, “some for scientific purposes, some for recreational purposes, but to us were not curiosities, these are our family, these are our ancestors.”
At a ceremony on Monday, leaders from the tribe attempted to present the governor with a letter explaining the problem but were unsuccessful.
Leaders say they will continue to fight this until their ancestors get justice.
“If they dug up your cemetery or your families cemetery to build something there, how would you feel?” said David Hill, Principal Chief Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma, “Those are the things that still hurt us today.”
